Our lives can get so busy at times. We need to take one of the kids to soccer practice, the other one needs to go to ballet, then the whole family needs to meet for dinner afterwards and it is crucial that you are all on time. Between my wife and I, we can try and text or call each other to stay in touch to make sure we arrive on time or to see where the other one is, but that can take up a lot of time, and to do this on the road is definitely not safe.

Now there is an alternative that can help, with an app named Twist. It gives you the opportunity to let someone know where you are and how long it will take to reach your destination without having to risk texting while you are driving. If this sounds intriguing, then follow along after the jump. (more…)

Foursquare has always been the dominant force in the location-centric social networking game. As of April 2012, They have twenty million registered users, and an average of around three million check-ins per day, most likely coming from mobile platforms.

Recently, they released a significant redesign of it’s service, pushing out an update that transforms the iPhone app by an order of magnitude. Alongside a brand new interface, Foursquare brought a number of new features to it’s iPhone app in a completely re-imagined package. Let’s take a fresh look at Foursquare, and see what some have described as an entirely new app. (more…)

One question that anyone using a check-in app has is “What are they doing with this data?” For as long as we’ve been busy checking in and sharing who we’re with, people have been thinking about how this data could be leveraged for something more useful than a virtual badge or title.

Gowalla attempts to answer this question. Previously an app that focused on the check-in, Gowalla is now using this information to generate travel guides for hot places all across the world. In this grand pivot, has Gowalla become something profoundly useful or lost some users?

On October 4th, freshly-appointed Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage to headline his first Apple event, and announced the release of the iPhone 4S and iOS 5. Under all of the exciting features that were covered that day were a few new Apple-designed apps. Apple doesn’t publish its own apps for download on the App Store very often, and when they do, the apps tend to be small companion apps and utilities (Remote or Find My iPhone) or productivity apps (Pages, Numbers, Keynote). But on that day, Apple announced a few full-featured, standalone apps. One of those was Find My Friends.

When I sat down to spill out my heart about Find My Friends, I wasn’t sure whether to review it proper or to simply share some thoughts, given that the app was developed by Apple. After some time, however, I decided to give it the review treatment, because I think that there are distinct pros and cons that should be considered in the context of other apps with similar functions. For those of you who weren’t able to watch the announcement and demonstration, allow me to recap some of the features first.

Foursquare, Gowalla, Scavngr, Facebook Places, all of these have the same basic premise: sharing your location with the world. You check-in to your favorite spots and tell everyone following you about the places you visit. Along the way you earn badges and prizes, unlock hidden items and complete lengthy goals. It’s a neat system, but it’s not for everyone.

What if you don’t want all that fluff? Even more, what if you don’t exactly want the whole world to know where you are at every waking moment? How do you quickly shoot off your location to a friend or two for a meet up that isn’t publicized on the web? Enter Flares, a location-sharing app with two primary goals: simplicity and privacy.

There are plenty of ways to find out how to get to the destinations you want to visit. Your iPhone includes Google Maps, which works great for finding precise directions, and there are a number of other GPS apps that give you turn-by-turn directions and more. But how are you going to find new restaurants, libraries, doctor offices, and more?

Today, there’s tons of new data being saved daily about places all around you. The problem is just that it’s hard to put all of the info together. You could search on Google or Bing, or check Foursquare and Twitter to see where people are going. The Problem is, this can be time consuming. Localscope is an exciting new app that does the legwork for you and makes it surprisingly easy to find destinations all around you. Keep reading to find out more.

Many of the things we have to do each day have to be done at specific locations. From picking up the dry cleaning to dropping off your library books, you have to remember to do certain tasks while in a specific place. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just be reminded of what you need to do while you’re in an area?

Task Ave is a new location-aware task manager that’s designed to help you remember what you need to do somewhere while you’re actually there. You’ll be able to quickly see how far you are from the things you need to do, and can add tasks to locations with the integrated Google Maps or location search. Keep reading to see how it works and if Task Ave will help you keep from making multiple trips for things you need to do in the same area.

Today we’ll be comparing two of the most popular location-based social network apps around: Foursquare and Gowalla. These two apps are very similar: both allow you to check in at places you visit, follow old friends and meet new ones, and earn achievements based on where you visit.

We’ll be breaking the apps down and comparing them on a number of measures so you can make an informed decision about which network you should join, and which iPhone app you should use (if not both!)

Parking is usually a nightmare these days with the stress of remembering the time you have left on your meter, where you left your car, and what floor it is on in a multi-story car park. Well, now you can relax! AutoPark is here to save the day and aid in all those areas.

Created by Frolicware, AutoPark is designed to save you from receiving pesky, unwanted parking tickets. It has GPS, timers, and push notifications built-in to assist you in the whole parking process.